Shifting Colors
by Shienar Rexix
Summary: A somewhat humorous look inside the circle of the Forsaken and what might have prompted the War in the Age of Legends. Short and concise, more of a blueprint at this point than a full-fledged story.
1. Black

**Part 1-Black**

**

* * *

**

How did we get this way?  
  
_What way?_  
  
Why did we have to fight?  
  
_When did we fight?_  
  
Light, you are worthless some of the time.  
  
_All of the time._

**

* * *

**

The Guide through Enlightenment

Academia can be a very comfortable position in our times. Whether you can manage to secure a slot in the Floating Dome or the University beneath, there is one place all students dream of attending. If you are lucky, smart, and have an aptitude for the Power, you too can study at[/] **

* * *

** "Sweety, why won't you look at me?" Mom looked like she would start crying any minute, an activity that would undoubtedly cause her heavy mascara to start running.  
  
-Mom, I told you to stop calling me that-  
  
"I don't know what's making you so cranky. I got you the Ether connection just like you asked, I don't come into your room anymore…what have I done?"  
  
The sniffles started to bother me. I wish that she would just cry, dammit, or at least stop pretending to. I had vowed to give her the silent treatment, but finally I spoke just to shut her up.  
  
-You forgot to get the scrambler-  
  
She paused.  
  
-You didn't forget, did you-You just decided that it would be easier-  
  
"Honey, that's in the tech district! Do you know what the Hall would do if they found out that I was going there? I might lose my position at the Dome-"  
  
-If you don't pick it up, I won't get a position at the Dome, let alone the University-  
  
That got her. With competition just to get into the Aes Sedai so high right now, I'd be lucky to get into the Gaters with my aptitude tests. And she knew it. She gave it one last try.  
  
"I just don't think that it's fair for them to say that you'll only be good at History. You have so much potential-"  
  
-And that's all I'll ever have, unless I can get into the Game-  
  
"I-"  
  
-I could always join Sanitation-  
  
She gave me a dirty look.  
  
"Alright, fine. But this is the –absolute- last time that I'll give in…what was the name I'm supposed to tell the guy?"  
  
-Tell him Ishmael sent you-  
  
She nodded and left. Moms are so easy. 


	2. Darkness

Part 2-Darkness

* * *

Remember when we met?  
  
_How could I forget?_  
  
You said that I would never amount to anything.  
  
_I wasn't that far off._  
  
No. If things hadn't gone just right-  
  
_Right is a matter of opinion._

_

* * *

_

The Guide through Enlightenment

  
  
In the depths of the Dome, Gravity itself is suspended. While the ancients disagreed, those who live now realize that the Power is the answer to all technical problems faced in research. Take the Portal experiment, where a full sized circle was finally enough to seal a Portal Stone destination that had been infected by mutated channelers, or the Dominion of 8723[/]

The Game is the only way to get away from the modern world now. Chora trees prevent any aggressive behavior for 25 miles around any city, and cities were much closer to each other than 25 miles.

* * *

You couldn't even think about harming another human being.  
  
Good thing the original game was based on fighting Dominion forces. Even Aes Sedai found nothing wrong with that. The bastards.  
  
-How could anyone play like that-  
  
My friends started laughing. It was a new feeling to have friends, let alone lickspittles, but that was the way it worked. Getting into the Dome based off of the Game was the hardest way in. Students rarely tried. So when someone not only maxed their required scores but also broke every previous record, the usual social leeches latched on.  
  
My target turned around. Short kid, seemed belligerent, as if he had something to prove. Looking at his screen, where the Dominion had flanked his entire army, I figured he would have to start proving it soon.  
  
"Who the #%$ are you to criticize my playing? That's an 87%, you dumb bastard." That was considered good before I started playing.  
  
I looked calmly at his tabs. Biomedical. That was fairly unusual. Aes Sedai didn't like people messing around with the "sanctity" of genes.  
  
-Ishmael-  
  
And that was enough. His face twisted through the usual run of emotions. Surprise, doubt, anger, and just a little bit of fear. Then it settled on a grin. Maybe he wasn't a complete idiot after all.  
  
"Huh. I thought you were eight feet tall and breathed fire wherever you walked."  
  
-I doubt it. I haven't got pyro genes-   
  
The Dome was still trying to figure out who had created those. 8 million credits was a lot of damage back then.  
  
He grinned.  
  
"Those were mine."  
  
I looked carefully. Too many people sucking up create a very cynical mindset.  
  
-What's your name-  
  
"Well, if you're Ishmael, you can call me Aginor."  
  
At least the bastard had a sense of humor. Ag-I-NO. The chemical compound that the Pyro genes turned into fire.  
  
-What's the R for-  
  
"Sounds cooler with it on the end. Why did you pick Ishmael for your GameID?"  
  
-Sounds cooler than Mike-  
  
"Mike?"  
  
-Long story- 


	3. Stirring

Part 3-Stirring

* * *

I don't think I'm ever going to get used to having you in here.  
  
_I can understand that. After all, it does make you seem to be the crazy one._  
  
Well, its not like you had any other place to go after…  
  
_I did make a showy exit, didn't I?_  
  
Damn straight you did! I just don't want to think about what's going to happen-  
  
_When we both get out? Neither do I._

_

* * *

_

The Guide through Enlightenment

  
  
The Game was developed by mistake. Essentially, it was an old training program that someone revived thinking that it was…a game. In actuality, it was the hardening tool during the last Time of Troubles to turn humans into killing machines. Understandably, the Dome has always spoken quietly about banning it. However, some feel that it is better to keep it around so that the sociopaths can be identified and tracked. Take the case of[/]

* * *

Lews Therin was an #%$. Plain and simple. But for some reason everyone always loved him. We figured it out in the end. Ta'averen are very annoying in the loyalty that they draw.  
  
"Hey, Gamer! Wait up!"  
  
He seems to think that I should be grateful that he knows me enough to assign me that title. If I had wanted to be called Gamer, I wouldn't have built up Ishmael so much.  
  
-What do you want-  
  
"Just to ask a question. On level eighteen how do you…"  
  
I just stood there and let his words flow past me. People think of the Game as something that you can cheat at or study for. So they ask me to help them. Sometimes I try, just so I can get a good laugh when their score drop thirty points.  
  
"…the flank?"  
  
I almost started laughing. He was trying to solve the scenario that Aginor had #%$ up two years ago. And failing miserably.  
  
-You try to keep too many alive-  
  
"What?"  
  
-You have to know how to kill your own men to get what you want-  
  
His face crumbled into a look of confusion. He would never advance past that level.  
  
I had to get to class. Aginor had a new gene he was letting lose that would (probably) eat the fibers of our Dome-issued clothes today. I wanted to be in place for when it happened. I paused for one moment.  
  
-Lews, do you wear Dome issued shorts-  
  
"Um…yeah. What gives?"  
  
-Just curious-  
  
This ought to be good. 


	4. Coalescing

Part 4-Coalescing

* * *

So you are still…sane…now?  
  
_As sane as can be. Your presence helps._  
  
What will happen when we go our ways?  
  
_We'll probably both go mad again._  
  
What?  
  
_Well, I'll revert, and you'll go stark raving mad._

_

* * *

_

The Guide through Enlightenment

There are many who can touch the Power who do not join the ranks of Aes Sedai. Usually these people feel that their talents are not sufficient, or that they themselves are unreliable. Their Power is used then to help them in their jobs and to move around easily if they are strong enough to Gate. The occasional scofflaw will even use the banned portal stones occasionally.

* * *

Graduation is always such an…enlightening experience. Quickly the only people left are your true friends. And you finally begin to talk to them what you always thought.  
  
-So what do you think-  
  
Rahvin frowned. He usually did back then. It was only once he…"got lucky" with Moghedien that he started to smile at all the girls.  
  
"I don't know. The Dominion was extinguished a long time ago-"  
  
-In a galaxy far, far away. Yes. But the forces sent to destroy them wouldn't have had time to be affected-  
  
Aginor spoke up. We had agreed that we needed Rahvin for it to work.  
  
"Chora show the classic signs of genetic tampering, Rahvin. Look here, at the branching tree. That's not a human technique. And the only other race we've ever encountered that works with genetics was the Dominion."  
  
Rahvin's brow furrowed deeper as he frowned more. I determined that at the present rate, his face would soon suck itself in, parodying a dying black hole.  
  
"So what you two are telling me is that the Dominion made the Chora and sent it here so that we would become a passive species? What for?"  
  
-Rahvin, did you ever play the Game-  
  
"Yeah, who hasn't?"  
  
-What happens to your troops when the Dominion wins-  
  
His face paled. Probably rerunning level eighteen. When the Dominion troops overrun your lines and start consuming your troops. It took a long time for the Ancients to figure out that they viewed us only as food.  
  
"If you guys are right-"  
  
-We are-  
  
"Then we're doomed if we ever run up against an…" Rahvin lacked the words then.  
  
Aginor supplied them. "Aggressor Race"  
  
"Whatever. We'll be so much meat on hoof."  
  
-Unless we reverse the Chora effect-  
  
His eyes went wide. Almost every male has dreamed about being out from under the influence of the pacifying trees, but at the same time we all want the complete comfort they provide.  
  
The comfort of stagnation and decay.  
  
Rahvin nodded his head. We had a chance now. 


	5. Rumbling

Part 5-Rumbling

* * *

You do have to admit, I was right in that.  
  
_Maybe. It's been three thousand years without any threat._  
  
We had five thousand years before the Dominion.  
  
_We also crushed them in less than a decade._  
  
We didn't have the Chora then.  
  
_Granted. Without your virus, I would never have been able to fight you._

_

* * *

_

The Guide to Enlightenment

The Dome is the single largest floating structure in existence. Between the grav-free zone at the center and the gargantuan sa'angreal crystals pointing out from every axis, it is the pinnacle of Power-aided construction. Over four hundred Master Aes Sedai are permanent research employees work daily, and nearly a thousand can rent space that is best suited to their needs. If you need a Gating platform, the west side[/]

* * *

The Chora around Aginor's town were slowly dying. The town was unaware what was happening. Aginor and I had worked for a long time on that little virus. The pacifying effect would slowly but surely fade, and when it was gone the tree itself would rot from the inside out. Poetic justice.  
  
But we were only halfway finished.  
  
Moghedian spoke up. She had slept with everyone in the group already (including Semirhage) to get in, and had proven her worth once inside by other means. Well, actually the same means, but on those outside the Circle.  
  
"The Chora dying won't be enough."  
  
-Why-  
  
She gave a slight shiver as she turned to face me. Moghedian has never been comfortable around those who are more experienced than her.  
  
"Agression has nearly been bred out of the species."  
  
"#%$."  
  
I couldn't tell which one of the others had spoken. It didn't matter. The sentiment was universal.  
  
-We can't stop now. If Sammael figures out what we are up to, he'll try and stop us. You gave him no clues-  
  
Moghedian just grinned and arched her back. Rahvin's eyes tracked her movement.   
  
"No, I had his…full attention."  
  
-Good. Enough of this playing. I believe that I have the answer-  
  
They were all paying attention to me now, even Semirhage. She spoke up.  
  
"You know how to turn back the tide?"  
  
-No, not exactly. I have an idea though, and I know who can help-  
  
Puzzlement on their faces. They knew all those that I had been quietly approaching about the Task, and only Demandred might join us. And he knew practically nothing beyond how to Channel.  
  
One word was all it took.  
  
-Lanfear- 


End file.
